November 2020
Powered and active loudspeakers continue to grow in popularity. They offer an inexpensive way to set up a high-quality music system without having to assemble separates: a receiver, integrated amplifier, or preamp and power amp. Audioengine has had great success with its larger A2+ stereo speaker system ($269/pair, all prices USD). Now they hope to repeat that with the less expensive A1 ($199/pair).
November 2020
Copperline 105
Format: CD
Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment
At 60, drummer Cindy Blackman Santana has had an exceptionally varied career that has seen her perform at both massive arenas and tiny clubs. The former came courtesy of her long tenure with singer-guitarist Lenny Kravitz, whom she first played with in 1993, the latter from her long apprenticeship as a jazz musician. In an interview, she once told me that the primary difference was what happened before and after the shows.
October 2020
The Criterion Collection 383
Format: BD
Overall Enjoyment
Picture Quality
Sound Quality
Extras
In these weeks and months following the death of George Floyd, we’ve heard a lot about prison reform and police brutality. The issue has been around a while -- witness this 1947 film from director Jules Dassin and producer Mark Hellinger. But there’s a huge difference between the prison-reform controversy of the 1940s and today’s: Few Black faces are seen among the prisoners in Brute Force, who are mostly white. The themes, on the other hand, are all too familiar.
October 2020
JBL’s Link Music Wi-Fi speaker is a handy listening device with built-in Bluetooth and Chromecast, and it’s AirPlay 2 compatible. It also includes Google Assistant -- it responds to verbal commands -- and it can serve as the hub for a home’s worth of smart appliances, controlling lighting and much more. At its current low price of $69.95 USD, it seems a winner -- but how does it perform?
In 1970, Marvin Gaye fell into a deep depression following the death of Tammi Terrell, the singer with whom he had recorded a number of duets that were among Tamla Records’ biggest sellers. “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” had hit 19 on the pop charts, while “If I Could Build My Whole World Around You,” “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing,” and “You’re All I Need to Get By” were all in the top 10 in 1967 and 1968.
October 2020
Blue Note B003239502
Format: CD
Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment
Jazz is both blessed and cursed with a creation myth, which is so oft-repeated that you might be able to recite it with me: born in New Orleans, it spread north to Chicago on the first waves of the Great Migration, and then east to New York City. Except, as jazz historian Mark Miller eloquently proved in his 1997 book, Such Melodious Racket, it’s not true.
September 2020
The Criterion Collection 1041
Format: BD
Overall Enjoyment
Picture Quality
Sound Quality
Extras
In The Comfort of Strangers (1990), Colin (Rupert Everett) and Mary (Natasha Richardson) are on holiday in Venice, trying to define their relationship. Mary wants a firmer commitment; Colin is happy with the loose arrangement they’ve had so far. In early scenes, they frankly address their differences -- or rather, Mary addresses, Colin deflects. Seemingly by accident, they run into a married couple, Robert (Christopher Walken) and Caroline (Helen Mirren), who live in a luxurious, Byzantine-style apartment. Robert tells them much of his history and acts as a tour guide; Caroline’s part in this story grows more gradually.
September 2020
Streaming music files used to be for listeners who cared more about quantity than quality. Times have changed. In the past ten years, various streaming services have begun offering files in resolutions of CD quality or above. At $189 USD, Audioengine’s B-Fi multiroom music streamer offers a simple, inexpensive way to receive and distribute CD-resolution files. The B-Fi has dramatically changed the way I listen to music.
September 2020
Palmetto 2196
Format: CD
Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment
I heard about drummer Matt Wilson before I heard his music, and what I heard about him made me anticipate that first interaction as I had for few other musicians. What I heard about Wilson was that he brought intense joy to everything he played, along with a sense of curiosity, and technique that made him sound like no other drummer on the scene.
August 2020
The Criterion Collection 1037
Format: BD
Overall Enjoyment
Picture Quality
Sound Quality
Extras
H.G. Wells’s science-fiction novel The War of the Worlds was first serialized in Pearson’s Magazine in 1897, and published in hardcover by William Heinemann the following year. In the 122 years since it has appeared in numerous versions, including several films. But the 1953 version directed by Byron Haskin and produced by George Pal, though freely adapted from Wells’s story, has proven the most iconic and durable. Nearly 70 years after its release, The Criterion Collection’s bang-up edition informs us that it’s a classic that will remain in the repertory.
August 2020
The Portable is the latest member of JBL’s Link line of Wi-Fi speakers. It’s distinctive in that you can lift it right out of its charging dock and carry it anywhere in your home that your Internet network is available. It seemed a bit costly at its original price of $179.95 USD, but for this summer JBL has halved the price, to $89.95.
August 2020
How to Find and Stream Your Favorite Classic Films
For anyone in love with the art of film, we live in a glorious age of immediate gratification. Within seconds of your being overcome with a sudden yearning to see it again, or for the first time, you can find and watch almost any title in the history of film.
August 2020
Craft Recordings CR00281
Format: LP
Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment
Take every story of wild rock stars, rockabilly cats, and legendary jazz over-indulgers, and set them all aside. No one -- not Keith Moon, Jerry Lee Lewis, or Charlie Parker -- could hold a candle to pianist James Booker for combining outrageous behavior and audacious musicianship.
July 2020
The Criterion Collection 1032
Format: BD
Overall Enjoyment
Picture Quality
Sound Quality
Extras
After establishing shots of New York City set to composer Bill Conti’s jaunty main theme, we discover a jogging couple: Erica (Jill Clayburgh) and Martin (Michael Murphy). She’s happy and carefree; he’s quarrelsome, nervous, withdrawn. When he steps in some dog poop and begins having a conniption, she placates him, and they then run home to make love. There we’re introduced to their 15-year-old daughter, Patti (Lisa Lucas), and this well-to-do family’s domestic life. It all looks perfect. Later, as Erica and Martin are taking a walk, he trembles as he tells her, “I’m in love with another woman.”
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